Lagos lawyer contests adult suffrage

In a fundamental human rights enforcement suit he filed before a Lagos Federal High Court, the lawyer is challenging the combined provisions of sections 65(1)(a) and (b), 106(b), 131(b), 177(b) and 117(2) of the constitution, which disqualify Nigerian youths within the said age bracket from contesting elections into state House of Assembly, House of Representatives, […]

In a fundamental human rights enforcement suit he filed before a Lagos Federal High Court, the lawyer is challenging the combined provisions of sections 65(1)(a) and (b), 106(b), 131(b), 177(b) and 117(2) of the constitution, which disqualify Nigerian youths within the said age bracket from contesting elections into state House of Assembly, House of Representatives, the Senate, governorship seat and presidential seat.
The suit was brought pursuant to the provisions of Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, 2009; sections 12(1) and 42(1)(a)(b) of the constitution and Article 1(2) of the African Youth Charter, 2006.
The applicant listed the Federal Attorney General, Bello Adoke, National Assembly comprising House of Representatives and the Senate; Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega as defendants in the suit.
Ogbe wants a declaration of the court that sections 65(1)(a) and (b); 106(b); 131(b) and 177(b) of the constitution were in conflict with Section 42(1) of the constitution, which he argued, had higher flavour and strength than the former.
He is also seeking an order directing the National Assembly to amend the constitution in order to domesticate the provisions of the African Youth Charter.
He further wants the court to declare that Nigerian youths, who have attained the age of 18 years, being the age of maturity, are entitled as of right to stand for election into political offices in the country.      
The applicant who said he had planned to contest election into Enugu South Rural Constituency seat of Enugu State House of Assembly, equally urged the court to restrain INEC from disqualifying him from vying for the election on the account of age come 2015, and by extension, any other Nigerian youth within the age bracket of 18 and 29 years.
The applicant wants the court to direct the federal government and the National Assembly to offset the cost of filing the suit, which he estimated at N20 million.
The applicant recalled that the Nigerian government under the leadership of General Abdulsalami Abubakar gave Nigerians a constitution on May 29, 1999, but that the said constitution could not be deemed to be the people’s constitution as it never evolved through the normal process.
He explained that the constitution contained many deficiencies that have made it difficult for the Nigerian nation to be governed without much socio-political hitches.
According to him, one of such deficiencies was the provision bordering on the age one has to attain before one can vie for an election into a political office in Nigeria. He lamented that the constitution provides that Nigerians who have attained age of 18 are adults, yet the same constitution bars an adult who fall within the age bracket of 18 and 29 from vying for elective positions in Nigeria, and that the constitution also recognised that no one should be made to suffer discrimination based on political opinion.
He added that Nigeria signed and ratified the African Youth Charter which is an international treaty meant for the empowerment of Nigerian youth, but the government has failed to embark on steps needed to bring into force the provisions of the charter, including amendment of the constitution to allow youth to vie for political offices.